Terreurs et tourments. Formes d'érémitisme en Italie centrale entre le XIIe et le XIIIe siècle

Résumé En

Terror and Tonnent. Forms of Hennitism in Central Italy Between the 12th and the 13th Century - The article explores two expressions of hennitism, two experiences of the holy life in the Valley of Subiaco, sanctified by the radiating influence of the Monastery of Saint Benedict. In the late eleventh century a young girl named Chelidonia settled in a remote and rugged cavern in the Simbruini mountains on the slope opposite the monastery, where she had little contact with the monastic institution but was revered by the population for her saintli- ness during her lifetime and for centuries to come. In the thirteenth century, the more renowned Lorenzo Loricato also settled in a cavern, but near the Sacro Speco, where Saint Benedict once lived as a hermit. Chelidonia chose to brave alone, with the help of fast and prayer, the terrors and dangers of her natural environment, on the « margins » of the monastic institution. Lorenzo chose a « protected » form of hermitism : he severely mortified his body, but to do so required the constant assistance of the monks. The story of these two saintly hermits, a man and a woman who lived a century apart, illustrates the many-sided relationship of hennitism with the monastic institution, popular worship, and nature.